Dow Surges Over 300 Points, Market Volatility Decreases

US stocks closed higher on Thursday, driven by growth stocks following the release of unemployment data.

The US Labor Department said initial jobless claims increased by 9,000 to 225,000 in the week ending December 24.

The Fed's aggressive rate increases have impacted stocks this year, with the benchmark S&P 500 losing around 19%.

All the major sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a positive note, with communication services, consumer discretionary and information technology stocks recording the biggest surge on Thursday.

The Nasdaq 100 jumped 2.54% to close at 10,951.05 on Thursday, amid gains in shares of Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN and Tesla Inc TSLA. Elon Musk reportedly told employees they should not be "bothered by stock market craziness."

The S&P 500 gained 1.75%, while the Dow Jones rose 1.05% to 33,220.80 in the previous session after Apple Inc. AAPL shares rebounded on Thursday.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) dropped 3.2% to 21.44 points on Thursday.

What is CBOE Volatility Index?

The CBOE Volatility Index, popularly known as VIX, is a measure of the equity market's expectation of volatility based on S&P 500 index call and put options.

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